“Offering time, blessing time!” So goes the chorus from members of
the congregation whenever it’s time to give offering in most churches.
To most Christians, the offering time is, indeed, a time of immense
financial blessing. But recently, the offering time turned into a moment
of hot curses in a Lagos church when an already used condom, dripping
with semen, was discovered inside the offering box after the Sunday
service.
It was like a weird dream, according to the former Chairman,
Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Ogba Zone, Prophet Tobi
Okonkwo, who witnessed the incident. The cleric said he couldn’t believe
his eyes when a discarded condom, with stains, was discovered in an
envelope in the offertory box of his former church.
When Pope Paul VI warned on June 29, 1972 that the smoke of Satan had
entered the church, not many Christians took the warning seriously.
With this recent incident, Okonkwo admitted that the agents of
darkness had infiltrated the churches in large numbers and now occupy
high-ranking positions in the gathering of God’s children, where they
wreak untold havoc on the unwary flock.
Okonkwo, who is also the General Overseer of Living Word Prayer
Assembly, Agege, Lagos, wept over man’s ingratitude to God during a
recent monthly thanksgiving programme of the church, tagged Manna from
Heaven.
Although the service was a joyful moment where the shepherd
distributes food items and other gifts to his flock, his startling
revelation brought a hush of silence on the congregation.
His words pierced the hearts of the worshippers, as he explained how
man had become ungrateful to divine benevolence. His several instances
of the atrocities committed in hallowed places pointed to the fact that
messengers from hell now walked about freely in hallowed places. “It is
really bad.
It has got to a point where some people come to the church to mock
God. They are anti-Christ but they still go to church. You could imagine
how somebody came to the church and decided to give a used condom in an
envelope to God.
You can see how wicked man has become,” he said. Okonkwo said the
giver of the abominable gift refused to confess his crime, even when the
entire church rained curses profusely on whosoever was responsible.
He said, “A curse was laid on the person. Even before the people laid
the curse, God had already seen the abomination committed in his house
by someone, who pretended he came to the church to worship God.”
The former PFN leader warned other members of the church of the
reality of the anti-Christ, whose reign would usher ungodliness in the
world. He lamented that prosperity message has taken over the pulpit at
the neglect of the gospel of repentance, which had enslaved many hearts
in pleasure and love of the world.
According to him, most Christians hunger for sermons that promise
easy wealth, while rejecting teachings that encourage chastity,
discipline, endurance and faithfulness.
“The style of the anti-Christ is to mock Jesus. Many Christians today
are crucifying Christ a second time. It’s really sad and unfortunate,”
he said. The cleric decried the approval of same sex marriage by
different countries, describing the constitutional recognition accorded
to such couples as an indication of the reign of anti-Christ in the
world.
Rather than milk his members dry, Okonkwo said he introduced a
programme, Manna from Heaven, to feed the flock of Christ with the
little he could afford. He said the programme involved sharing of bags
of rice, noodles and other foodstuff on equal measures to all the
members to inculcate in them the love for sharing and concern for their
suffering neighbour.
Okonkwo also berated some pastors who, according to him, start
Christian ministries and involve themselves in dubious things all in a
bid to acquire wealth and fame. He said such ones worship money as their
god. “For them to get money, they end up preaching prosperity.
Salvation messages are not often on their lips. The church is not
supposed to be a business but most people have turned it into a
business.
It is quite unfortunate,” he said. Aside the sacrileges committed in
churches, Okonkwo, who had earlier predicted the emergence of Jonathan
as President during the ailing days of late President Umaru Musa
Yar’Adua, also frowned at the various scandals rocking political offices
and other sectors of the economy.
He said most Nigerians have lost the sense of sanity, citing the many
cases of corruption in the country. According to him, no day passes
without the disclosure of one fresh set of financial scandal or the
other.
He lamented that the financial blood of the country was being drained
by some thieving elite with no interest of the masses at heart.
Although Okonkwo foreclosed the chances of possible disintegration of
the country, he warned corrupt leaders to repent or face the wrath of
heaven.
According to him, only selfless leaders would bring the nation back
from the brink of monumental crisis and repair the ruins caused by
corruption and bad leadership in the country.
Source: Sun News
